Tigard city manager takes pay cut

Marty Wine agrees move will help cut costs, balance budget

TIGARD - When City Manager Marty Wine took over six months ago, she was given a $10,000 pay increase from her previous job in Washington.

But Wine gave it back Tuesday, as part of a plan to help the city reduce costs.

With city costs rising and less money flowing in, Wine ordered cuts to every department in the city to help get the city on stable financial footing.

And when she said every department, she meant it, including her own.

Wine cut $10,000 out of her $140,000 yearly salary as a way to help balance the city's budget.

'People are losing their jobs, so from an organizational standpoint, I realized what we needed to do,' Wine said.

A $10,000 drop in pay equates to about a 7.15 percent pay cut.

The $2.5 million in cuts the city faced resulted in the loss of about 20.5 full-time jobs through slashed work hours and program reductions.

Tigard Police took the brunt of the city's attention as the largest department in the city. The approved budget called for the elimination of seven employees, including four police officers. Three of those positions were vacant.

The city also cut programs, increased fees and said City Hall and the Tigard Public Library would close one day a week.

Wine admits $10,000 is a small piece of the $2.5 million budget gap, but every little bit helps.

'Every department tried to look at ways to make reductions,' Wine said. 'There are people who are reducing their hours and making additional contributions to their medical insurance costs. In this case, I can't lay myself off, and I can't cut my hours because that would be meaningless. But this is one thing I could do.'

The City Council approved the change to Wine's contract Tuesday night, the same night it adopted its budget for the 2012-13 fiscal year.

City Councilor Nick Wilson commended Wine for including herself among the cuts.

'I think it will go a long way,' Wilson said. 'In belt tightening times, people sometimes grumble about leadership, saying that they don't take a hit, so I think that this is important, and I appreciate it.'

The change to Wine's contract is permanent, City Councilor Marland Henderson added. It would take another resolution by the City Council to add back to Wine's salary.

The pay cut puts Wine below the salary she made at her previous job.

Wine made $132,100 as assistant chief administrative officer in Renton, Wash., near Seattle.

When she was hired, the City Council unanimously approved a $140,000 a year contract for Wine.

Former Tigard City Manager Craig Prosser, who retired last June, made about $140,000 a year as well.

Wine said the decision wasn't a difficult one.

'Talk to each Tigard employee, would we all want more money in our pockets? Of course, but that's not right. I need to make as many sacrifices as the rest of the workforce has.'

The approved budget should keep the city from additional cuts for the next three to five years, according to Toby LaFrance, the city's finance director.